Wolves guard Derrick Rose taking cautious approach with injuries

LOS ANGELES – During his 50-point performance against the Jazz last week, Derrick Rose said he cut open the bursa sac in his elbow, hit his head and fell on his back. He also injured his left ankle, the most serious of the above maladies which caused him to play only five minutes Friday against Golden State and miss Sunday’s game against Portland.

“I look at those little things as accomplishments,” Rose said after shootaround Wednesday at Staples Center. “I played through them but at the same time, you have to be smart with certain things. My ankle, I can’t play around with it, just have to be cautious with it.”

Rose was again in the lineup Wednesday after playing in Monday’s loss to the Clippers. Rose said that given his injury history, which includes multiple knee surgeries, he has to be cautious when evaluating whether or not he’s going to try and play through pain.

“Knowing where I came from, my injury background, there’s no point in risking anything if I feel a certain way,” Rose said. “… If I would’ve had this when I was younger, I still would’ve had to sit out, too. It’s about being smart, knowing what type of player I am. And a lot of people look at it like, ‘Your 60 percent is a lot better than a lot of people’s 90 or 100 percent.’ But it’s my body, I have to pay attention to my body and just be smart with the whole situation.”

Another injured Wolves point guard, Jeff Teague, was able to work out on the court Tuesday, coach Tom Thibodeau said. Teague missed his fifth consecutive game because of a left knee bruise.

“He is feeling a little better,” Thibodeau said. “He knows his body well and he’s not quite there but hopefully it’ll be shortly.”

Towns chasing history

Karl-Anthony Towns entered Wednesday’s game needing 10 rebounds to make history. He finished with nine Wednesday, but he can still become only the second player in NBA history to score at least 5,000 points and grab 3,000 rebounds before turning 24. He turns 24 on Nov. 15. The only other player to hit those marks at a younger age is Shaquille O’Neal, who did it when he was 23 years, 32 days old.

O’Neal needed 234 games to hit those numbers while Towns played in his 258th game Wednesday. The player to do it in the fewest amount of games was Wilt Chamberlain, who needed only 133. Chamberlain was 24 at the time.

Support for Walton

The Lakers have had their share of issues as they try to gel with LeBron James now in the mix. Coach Luke Walton, a former assistant with the Warriors, has taken heat from the front office for the team’s slow start. Thibodeau, however, said Walton should be able to navigate his way through it.

“I was very impressed with him [at Golden State],” Thibodeau said. “In coaching you’re going to be thrown a lot of things. When it was going great for him, he never got too high. He handled the lows well. It’s a challenge. It’s a great job. He has a team and a new team, but Luke is terrific.”

Led by freshman Gabe Kalscheur, 10th-seeded Minnesota broke open the game with 11 three-pointers, knocking off No. 7-seeded Louisville. Next up is the winner of the Michigan State-Bradley game on Saturday.